MPH135 all out

Doctors132 for 8

The Hospital’s openers F.Turlot and E.Saxby
dominated the first half of the innings by practising the time-honoured
virtues of hitting the ball hard and running well between the wickets.They also profited from Doctors’ recently
acquired habit of dropping catches.Saxby retired and Doctors’ fortunes took a turn for the better when
Keith Powell at long on accepted a steepling chance from Turlot (22) off
Peter Reed and Phil Barker (2-33) weighed in with 2 quick wickets.Barker’s second victim, Alan Dunkley was
his 15th of the season (in 9 matches) and his 200th for
Doctors.He now holds the record for
the fastest ‘double-double’ (2000 runs and 200 wickets).Julian Webster (14) used his strong bottom
hand to good effect until he was bowled by Shay Keohane.Further successes for Reed (2-20) and
Keohane (2-19) got their team back into the match but Saxby came back in to
join S.Ingram and their partnership for the last wicket gave the Hospital an
above-par total.In the final over
Ingram (20) tried one quick single too many to Reed and was run out by a
direct hit.Saxby was left on 49 not
out.

Doctors’ other
new trait is a top-order collapse and true to form the score after 4 overs
was 10 for 3, each of the top three in the order having scored just one
run.Webster (2-27) and H.Gann (1-15)
did the damage.There followed a fine
stand between Graham Fergusson and Sam Powell which hauled Doctors back into
contention.Their euphoria was
dampened by a fine spell from Dunkley who persuaded a miss-cue from Powell
(28) to backward point.Fergusson had
to retire and Dunkley (3-24) continued to wreak havoc including a ‘revenge’
caught and bowled dismissal of Barker.Keohane’s fine match continued with an aggressive cameo which inched
Doctors towards their target.Fergusson returned at the fall of Doctors’ penultimate wicket with 10
runs needed from 4 balls and hit the first of them for 4.Sadly for Doctors the batsmen could not
find the boundary again and, with Fergusson on 37 and Keohane on 17, they
fell just short.